World War II and involvement in the Holocaust During
World War II, one of Degussa's
(Deutsche Gold- und Silber-Scheide-Anstalt, "German Gold and Silver Refining") subsidiaries,
Degesch (translation: German Corporation for Pest Control), was the main manufacturer and distributor of the chemical
Zyklon B, which was used to murder people in gas chambers of
German extermination and concentration camps during
the Holocaust. Gold dental fillings, which had been forcefully removed from the mouths of concentration-camp inmates, were processed by Degussa. While constructing the
Holocaust Memorial in
Berlin, it became public that the
plasticizer and the
anti-graffiti coating of the memorial were produced by Degussa, resulting in a pause of the construction works until the matter was clarified. In November 2003, the memorial's trustees decided to finish the building with the involvement of Degussa.
After World War II In 2006, RAG acquired Degussa AG, which was later renamed Evonik-Degussa GmbH. Historically, Evonik Industries' businesses were part of RAG activities. The idea of splitting the company was put forward in 2005. The background of this idea was that RAG's core business of
coal mining is carried out under government contract in Germany, while businesses transferred to Evonik compete in international markets. This structure did not permit the payment of dividends to the shareholders, which limited shareholders' readiness to inject equity into the RAG, which thereby restricted the company's ability to access fresh capital. As the first step, RAG's shareholders sold their shares to RAG foundation (RAG-Stiftung) to split RAG. The Foundation was established on 10 July 2007, and Evonik Industries was created on 12 September 2007. The original plan foresaw the
IPO of Evonik Industries in the first half of 2008. However, this plan was postponed until mid-2010 at the earliest, and the RAG Foundation started to look for strategic investors, while still holding on to the plans for a midterm IPO. In June 2008, the private equity firm
CVC Capital Partners bought a stake of 25.01% in the company. Among many other private equity investors who bid for the stake (amongst them
Blackstone Group and
3i), Russian
Gazprom was reported to have considered buying a stake in Evonik Industries. The IPO, by now planned for fall of 2011, was once again postponed in September 2011, this time citing the "current state of financial and capital markets and their prospects." RAG Foundation had planned for Evonik's IPO to take place in 2012, but this was postponed as a result of poor market conditions. Evonik shares have been traded on the
Frankfurt Stock Exchange since 25 April 2013. Prior to the IPO the company had given institutional investors the opportunity to acquire around 14% of the shares for €2 billion. Since 5 March 2015, the shareholding structure of the Evonik Industries AG is composed as follows: • 67.9%:
RAG Foundation • 14.0%: Gabriel Acquisitions GmbH (a company owned by funds advised by
CVC Capital Partners) • 18.1%: Free float
2012 cyclododecatriene plant fire In March 2012, a fire at the Degussa plant in
Marl, stopped production of
cyclododecatriene (CDT) for a duration of several months. The plant produced a substantial proportion of the world's production of CDT, particularly that needed to produce
laurolactam, a precursor to the
polyamide PA12. This shortage in turn led to concerns for global production of finished goods, particularly in the automotive industry. Biobased polyamides, not dependent on laurolactam or CDT, have been put forward as alternative materials. ==Operations==